School Shooting Epidemic: Could THIS be the Real Cause?

The school shooting epidemic is OUT of control

What I don't understand is why “gun control” always becomes the THING–instead why isn't everyone talking about keeping guns away from those who are unstable?!!  Better yet, find out the cause for why so many kids are going over the edge nowadays?  Today that's what my friend Joanie goes into and she makes so much sense. Here's Joanie…

Living 45 minutes from UC Santa Barbara, lucky Auntie Joanie was privileged to attend the graduation of her niece in June of last year.

It was a bittersweet experience, though.  My niece's graduation followed just two weeks after the May, 2014 murder of six students, the wounding of thirteen and the suicide of the shooter.  In fact, both my nieces were in attendance at the time, and both, thank God, were out of town for the shooting.  Neither girl knew any of the kids killed.  So my family, at least, was spared the worst of the horror.

Unfortunately, more than year later, it's still very hard to forget.  All you have to do is follow the news.  The trauma of the murder of young people by other young people in this country does not seem to be going away.

52 school shootings so far this year leave 30 dead, 53 injured

Shortly after the Santa Barbara shootings last year, in researching what could possibly be causing such insane, violent behavior and this school shooting epidemic, I ran across an article linking the rise and fall of criminal violence in U.S. cities to… How we conduct our policing?  Putting offenders behind bars?  Gun control or lack of it? Parenting practices?

Nope.  Here's what I found: interesting information on our mass exposure to a common metal.

This article stated that the rate of violent crime in our country has actually dramatically declined at all levels since the 90's and provided the FBI data to back it up (current to 2011).

So, yes, we may be seeing consistent bloody headlines about the rising rate of shootings in schools, but, bizarrely, over all, the rate of violent crime (as defined by the FBI: murder & manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) has dramatically declined for about two decades now.

In city after city, violent crime peaked in the early '90s and then began a steady and spectacular decline.

• …New York City had plunged 75 percent…
• Washington, DC… 58 percent…
• Dallas' has fallen 70 percent.
• Newark: 74 percent.
• Los Angeles: 78 percent…

And the author of the article offers a rather startling explanation.

Gasoline lead may explain as much as 90 percent of the rise and fall of violent crime over the past half century.

(Emphasis mine, source: America's Real Criminal Element: Lead.)

The correlation is indisputable (take a look at this graph).  Once our heavy environmental exposure to lead ended in the mid-70's (lead was removed from gasoline in 1973 and from paint in 1978), violent crime in this country didn't just drop – it plummeted!

In 1976, the average US resident had a blood-lead level of 16 µg/dL [micrograms per deciliter], according to the National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey.

By 1991… the average had dropped to 3 µg/dL…

(Emphasis mine, source: The Crimes of Lead.)

Not only did our average lead levels drop over by 533% in just fifteen years, but we also dramatically lowered our standards for what is “normal.” (Hint to researchers and policy makers: just because you see a lot of it, doesn't make it “normal.”)

Current standards now define anything above 10 µg/dL to be toxic, when in the 1960's the upper limit was 60 µg/dL.

That means that by today's standards the average American in the 70's suffered from substantially high lead poisoning! 

Whoa.  This puts a whole new spin on the violent clashes of the late 60's and early 70's when our national average blood-lead level peaked!

Why is lead so strongly associated with violence?  

One key is a chemical in the brain called serotonin (also known as 5-HT), which acts as a brake on impulsiveness.

Individuals with normal levels of serotonin show restraint and think things through before they act. They have the ability to foresee the consequences of their actions.

On the other hand, people with low serotonin levels are liable to act first and think later, which can get them into trouble.

(Source: Strong Links Between Lead Poisoning & Violent Behavior.)

But what does this have to do with the school shooting epidemic since lead poisoning is no longer an issue in this country?

If toxic levels of lead in the brain develop into a form of “insanity,”  are there other metals or chemicals that can also create deranged thinking and violent behavior?

Our national lead levels may have gone down, but all Americans, nevertheless, continue to be exposed to a virtually uncountable array of other heavy metals, not to mention a drastically increasing amount, particularly over the last four decades, of petrochemicals in our food, water, air and environment.

Metals like aluminum, cadmium, lead and mercury are commonly found in thousands of different food products, household products, personal products and untold numbers of industrial products and chemicals.

(Source: Your Number 1 Defense Against Toxic Metals.)

So, if U.S. crime in general is dropping due to less lead exposure, but school shootings are up…

WHAT is happening to our youth?  What is going ON with this school shooting epidemic?!

Is this an indicator that our young people today, perhaps through childhood exposure specific to their generation (and those following), are struggling with a toxicity that is creating delusional thoughts, paranoia and psychosis?

This is uncharted territory, folks.  NO ONE has done any long term studies on the effects of the cocktail of chemicals circulating in every one of our bodies.

The last forty years (since 1975) have been the worst for increasing amounts of petrochemicals dumped into our food, soil, air and water.

…the sharp increase over the past four decades in chemical manufacturing, which continues to grow by more than 3 percent every year. Some 30,000 pounds of chemicals were manufactured or imported FOR EVERY PERSON in the United States in 2012 alone…

“We are drowning our world in untested and unsafe chemicals,” said lead author Gian Carlo Di Renzo…

(Emphasis mine, source: We're Surrounded by Way More Chemicals Than We Thought, and These Doctors Say We're Screwed)

Furthermore, our teens and twenty-somethings are the second and sometimes third generation of Americans to grow up on toxic, denatured, processed, industrial foods as well as multiple vaccinations, drugs, antibiotics, etc.  Our children are the canaries in the coal mine.

Since heavy metal poisoning is her area of expertise, I spoke with my practitioner, Theresa Vernon, LAc, about her clinical experience resolving heavy metal-induced mental illnesses.  She said that her mentor, Dr. Larry Eck, identified a trio of problematic metals which he called the “Three Amigos,” that consists of aluminum, iron and manganese.

Based on testing he did of incarcerated prisoners, he found that when all three metals were high, those young men classically exhibited a high degree of violent behavior and lack of impulse control.

Copper, adrenal fatigue and mental illness

Copper toxicity, which is strongly correlated with adrenal fatigue, can also lead to delusional thinking and ultimately, paranoid schizophrenia.

You may have more personal experience with this condition than you think.

Adrenal fatigue (usually also accompanied by an impaired thyroid) has been characterized by some experts as an undiagnosed epidemic in this country.  Between our cultural diet, lifestyle and stress patterns, I really don't think I know anyone who doesn't experience some degree of adrenal dysfunction.

Excess copper in the system is very stimulating to the mind.  While these individuals have a quality of being very bright and appealing, particularly in childhood, or appearing to be almost constantly “on.”  Over time, however, excess copper leads to hypersensitivity, anxiety and delusion.

Furthermore, Theresa Vernon says she believes anyone who has been vegan for longer than six months (vegetarians who eat dairy and eggs, however, can generally go somewhat longer) will most likely have elevated copper in their tissues as a direct result.

Vegetarian diets are very high in copper because the vegetable foods are a great source of this mineral. Since vegetarians don’t eat meat, and possibly not even eggs, they are not getting enough zinc, which is the natural antagonist to copper. 

(Source: Metals and the Mind.)

Recently I've had the unfortunate experience of watching a young woman in my community degenerate into delusional paranoia which emerged full force shortly after she gave birth.  She currently spends her days obsessively writing stories of bombs, fires and guns and is clearly headed towards hospitalization/incarceration and medication.

Postpartum copper toxicity is not uncommon and according to Dr. William Walsh, PhD of the Walsh Research Institute, could most likely be cured fairly quickly and easily on a protocol to remove the excess copper from her system.

That will probably never happen for this young woman. 

Why?  Because her parents, similar to the parents of Eliot Rodger, the Santa Barbara shooter, are unaware that these kinds of “intractable” mental imbalances can often be cured using a heavy metal testing and detoxification program.

Rodger definitely fell into the category of “intractable.”  In almost continual care under a psychiatrist starting at the age of 8, nevertheless, fourteen years later Rodger ended his living hell by murdering six people and committing suicide.

Clearly, standard psychiatric approaches and medication failed him, his parents, his victims, and their families and loved ones.

What is my overall take away?

Insanity is not random, but a physiological condition that can often be predicted, prevented and frequently cured through proper testing, protocol and diet.

I believe it is entirely possible to wipe out mental illness within the next several generations.

Bear in mind that when Dr. Weston Price traveled the world seeking out supremely healthy tribes that were still eating 100% traditional foods, he only sought out those peoples who had no recorded history of any mental illness.  Wise indigenous peoples have always understood the link between what we consume and our state of both mind and body.

The groundbreaking and well-documented work of Drs. Carl Pfeiffer and William Walsh curing various forms of mental illness from paranoid schizophrenia to suicidal depression, bipolar, etc. through nutritional supplements and diet has been almost entirely ignored by the scientific community.  In my opinion, this directly speaks to the power of the pharmaceutical industry in this country to control funding and governmental policy.

However, with enough failure by the current scientific model to solve our culture's psychological crisis, perhaps the work of Dr. Eck, Dr. Pfeiffer and Dr. Walsh will be soon become not just “discovered,” but commonplace.

I wonder how many how many school shootings it will take to STOP the school shooting epidemic?

How to find trained practitioners who can test you for heavy metals

If you believe you may have compromised adrenals (frequent tiredness with blood sugar drops; hypersensitivity or anxiety; problems sleeping; ongoing gas, bloating or acid reflux; history of eating vegan or vegetarian), I would encourage you to get tested for a potential copper overload in your tissues.  As Dr. Mercola says,

… due to the sheer number of possible sources of contamination, most preventive measures to avoid exposing yourself to them are ultimately futile.

The inescapable reality is that it is nearly impossible in this day and age not to be exposed to metals. It is only a matter of how much and how often.

(Source: How Metals in Food Affect Your Child's Behavior.)

The most effective tools we have always start with a clean, Traditional Foods diet while maintaining a healthy microbiome.

This must be followed by a targeted nutritional supplements protocol designed through testing to supply the right nutrients in the correct balance.  The goal is to carefully provide the extra nutrition that will enable to body to excrete the excess metals inappropriately sequestered in the tissues.

It's simply not possible to self-test and guess at a protocol.  The process of detoxification happens in layers.  You may test low in a particular metal one time, but that's only because it's still “hiding” in the soft tissues. In my experience, truly effective heavy metal detox requires the oversight of a trained practitioner who understands the full picture.

To be referred to a trained practitioner in your area, call:

Analytical Research Laboratories in Phoenix, AZ, 800-528-4067, M-F 8:00am to 4:30pm – Mountain Standard Time.

Related posts:

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• How to Fight Depression and Anxiety Naturally: 20 Helpful Tips for Anxiety, Depression, and Fatigue

• How to Help Teens with Anxiety or Depression
• Many have been healed of mental health/anxiety disorders by going on the GAPS Diet — “My youngest adopted sister who displays symptoms of Asperger Syndrome is also participating in this GAPS adventure. Just now she came downstairs from my parents apartment, sat to eat some broth (something she would have gagged over last week) and had this touching discussion. Emmie asked, “Do you feel happier on the GAPS diet?”  “Why do you ask?” I asked her.  She responded, ” I want to know if it is just me or if everyone who eats this way feels happier. Because yesterday I started feeling really happy inside.”  Click here to read more and get help.  Also check out:  What is the GAPS Diet — GAPS Diet for Rookies.
• What Killed this Med Student? Dishonest Psychiatrists and Chemical Straightjackets
• Sociopath Traits: How to Know When Nice People Are Really NOT…
• See all posts on anxiety/depression/mental Health/stress here.
• Is This the Greatest Public Health Achievement of the 20th Century?

This was a post by my sweet friend, Joanie Blaxter, now a regular writer around here!  Joanie is the founder of Follow Your Gut and a health coach who has been in sales and education in the natural foods and products industry since the early 70’s, with her most recent six years spent as a vitamin specialist in a natural foods store.  For dietary consultations, Joanie can be contacted here. Joanie’s past articles are located here.

Disclaimer: Neither Joanie nor I are health professionals! Use what you read here for your own research and then consult with a natural-minded doctor or health professional you trust to find what is best and right for YOU. Read my entire disclaimer here, and also note that there may be affiliate links in this post.

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